Let's make learning Mandarin fun!

Robert P.

I have a BA in Asian Studies: Chinese Language and History and have been a language tutor for a wide variety of students for more than 35 years. I lived in Mainland China (Nanjing, mostly) for a total of 3 years, studying and working at Nanjing University. I also lived in Taipei, Taiwan, for a total of 2 years, studying at Taiwan Normal University, as well as running a language school (both teaching English to Chinese speakers and teaching Chinese to English speakers) in Taipei. I also travelled extensively around China, Taiwan and Hong Kong on business and for pleasure. Therefore, I am well-versed in traditional and simplified characters, as well as some of the issues that a Mandarin speaker may face when traveling to various regions where dialects, accents and local jargon may be different.

Most of my students are people who are just getting started learning Mandarin Chinese, find it very difficult to get started (because, let's face it, it is a VERY difficult language for an English speaker to learn, especially when it comes to reading and writing) and need some extra motivation. My role is not just to be a language tutor, but also to be someone who can help make it fun, give them cultural and situational contexts for learning (e.g. the different usages of numbers when it comes to speaking about dates, time, money, etc) encourage them to stick with it and get through the tough challenges at the beginning and enjoy newfound abilities to communicate with people, understand more of the world around us and make yourself understood clearly in personal and commercial situations.

I have taught students in classroom settings from ages 5 and up, and most recently have worked with adult students (in their 30s and 40s) in private sessions. I have been very successful with private students, most of them staying with me for private lessons over the course of several years.